Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Hitchcock Marathon

I love movies. That's no secret. But I like a wide variety of movies. Thankfully, so does my husband. This past weekend we decided to watch some Alfred Hitchcock movies. Now contrary to popular belief, most Hitchcock movies are not scary. They are more along the lines of mystery movies. And even the supposedly scary ones ("Psycho", "The Birds") aren't scary either because the special effects are so lame that they end up being more like comedies.

We started our marathon with "To Catch A Thief". I highly recommend this one. It stars Cary Grant (he's SO dreamy!) and Grace Kelly (she's SO beautiful...and I want her wardrobe). It's set in the French Riviera so the scenery is spectacular. The story in a nutshell is about a retired jewel thief who is accused of a string of robberies and goes after the real thief to clear his name.

The next movie we watched was "Dial M For Murder". This one also stars Grace Kelly (again with an enviable wardrobe) and Ray Milland. The basic plot is about a man who hires someone to kill his wife and finds himself in a predicament when things don't go according to plan. I also recommend this one.

Third on the playlist was "Psycho". Paige recently had to watch this one for her film class and recommended it to me. I watched it one day last week and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. So Gary and I watched it together on Friday night. This one stars Janet Leigh who is murdered while in a motel shower in what is probably one of the most famous movie scenes ever. There are a couple of scenes that will make you jump but nothing too terribly scary. And the ending may surprise you!

On Saturday afternoon I watched one by myself, "Marnie". It stars Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren. The movie starts out as a caper movie with a female thief but ends up being more about the psychological trauma she endured as a child that made her the way she is. It was interesting and definitely held my attention but was also quite dark as the secrets of her childhood came to light.

For our fifth choice we decided to try a "newer" Hitchcock film and went with "Frenzy". I don't know about Gary, but I didn't really like it. Aside from the bad 70's styles, the main character was just really slimy and creeped me out. The story is about a serial rapist/murderer whose close friend gets blamed for his crimes and the friend's fight to have his name cleared and to have the real culprit brought to justice.

To wrap up our marathon we picked a tried and true classic, "The Man Who Knew Too Much", starring Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. (You just can't go wrong with these two actors.) The story is about an American doctor and his family who get caught up in an assassination plot while vacationing in Morocco. I highly recommend this one for it's interesting story, the great acting and Doris' singing. (She has a beautiful voice! She also has a fabulous wardrobe.) (Clearly I'm in love with 50's clothing!)

Other Hitchcock movies that I've seen many times and recommend are "North By Northwest" and "Rear Window". Oh, and if you decide to check any of these out, be sure to try and spot Alfred Hitchcock. He makes uncredited cameos in his movies and it's great fun to try to find him as you're watching.